TECH STREET 404

Yeah ! I know how frustrated you might have become before you reached this article , trying to transfer files between OS-X and Windows through an external drive. Well , here's the thing , Mac doesn't recognises the filesystems like exFAT , FAT32 etc (WHEN FORMATTED IN WINDOWS) and Windows doesn't recognises HFS and HFS+ that's required for OS-X time machine backup. Now , first of all if you are unable to partition your drive in Windows , then read this article  . Prerequisite : You will need 3rd party NTFS software for your MacBook , I will recommend Paragon NTFS (paid) but you can also use free ones like OSXfuse , NTFS-3G , Mounty etc. Follow the steps to create your heavenly drive: 1. Create 2 partitions in your external drive in NTFS file system (Don't go rogue by selecting exFAT). The first partition will serve the purpose of storage and transfers across Windows and Mac ,and the second partition will be used by OS-X time machine to create ...

Well partitioning your drive makes your drive serve multiple purposes like backup , recovery and storage etc. Atleast I don't know how many drives I might have bought if partitioning wasn't available  at all :p . Backup your drive data before proceeding further , Lets get started . I. FOR MAC USERS: 1. open spotlight (CMD+space) , type "Disk Utility" and open it. 2. click on your drive in the left sidebar. 3. if partition button has been greyed out then you will have to erase your drive. Preferably you can format it in exFAT if you wish to use it across Windows and Mac and in HFS+ if you don't like Windows and their users :p , just kidding ! use HFS+ if you need to make time machine backup, and don't use MBR , select GUID. 4. now click on partition, depending on your OS_X version , you might be able to see a different interface but I'll go with the general method. Click on "+" at the bottom. Come on ! find it already , that ain...

Well , it turns out that Windows Disk Management sometime doesn't recognises the volume bits of the filesystem and doesn't allows you to create a partition. Now , first of all if you are unable to partition your drive in Windows then probably the "Create Simple Volume" or "Create Partition " button in Disk Management has been greyed out so we will have to use some 3rd party software for making partitions. I will recommend AOMEI Partition Assistant ,  download it from here . Follow the steps and it will be fine : 1. open AOMEI Partition Assistant. 2. right click on your external drive( lets say mine is E:) 3. now select create partition . 4. select NTFS filesystem (Don't get cocky by selecting exFAT) 5. select the amount of space that you are going to allocate to the 1st partition and click create. 6. now select apply in the top left corner of toolbar, it will take some time to process. 7. right click on E: and select create partition and foll...